Mariner was recently featured in the September 2010 edition of Progress Magazine. The article discusses how Mariner builds on its own success by helping other young entrepreneurs achieve
their promise.
When Chris Newton hatched an idea in 2006, he knew who to call: Gerry Pond. Before long, Newton was sitting across from his mentor and angel investor in Fredericton’s downtown Tim Hortons, discussing his most recent inspiration. Scribbling on the back of an envelope, the then 37-year-old entrepreneur outlined the rough concepts behind his business pitch, Radian6.
Pond, the co-founder and chair of
Mariner, a highly successful Saint John tech firm, listened intently before
making a quick judgment on the proposal. “Gerry said, ‘Yup, let’s do it. I’m
in,’ ” recalls Newton, adding that Pond even put up seed money during the pair’s
second meeting, looking past some of the plan’s risks and gaps. “Gerry is more
interested in the passion of the people involved and whether or not you’re going
to drive forward to get it done,” says Newton. It wasn’t Pond’s first experience
with Newton, who had also turned to the Mariner executive in 1999 when he
launched his first company, called Q1 Labs. Today Fredericton-based Radian6, led
by CEO Marcel LeBrun, is considered a darling of Atlantic Canada’s technology
sector. Its software, which allows companies to track how they’re being
discussed on websites such as Facebook and Twitter, is used by some of the
world’s biggest corporations, including General Electric, Pepsi, Microsoft,
Procter & Gamble, Intel, and Hewlett-Packard.
Much of that swift success can be attributed to Newton’s innovative idea, but
Pond and his partners at Mariner must also be credited with Radian6’s rapid
rise. Itself successful and expanding, Mariner is also helping cultivate a new
crop of Atlantic Canadian tech entrepreneurs. Those efforts have secured Mariner
the top spot as the most balanced organization among this year’s TOP 101.
Read the full article here »